Hungry Horse plan one of largest projects proposed in valley

The Daily Inter Lake

One of the largest individual subdivisions proposed in the valley comes before the Flathead County Planning Board for a public hearing Wednesday.

The South Fork Addition initially called for 1,000 residential units, but recently was scaled back to 904 units. It would be built on 90 acres on the southeast side of Hungry Horse, on property previously owned by the U.S. Forest Service.

The project calls for 16 single-family home lots, 92 duplex townhouse units, 162 triplex units and 634 multi-family apartment or condominium units. One lot also would be created next to U.S. 2 for future commercial development.

The subdivision would be built in four phases, with the first phase calling for 400 multi-family units in 34 apartment buildings on 20 acres just south of the ranger station.

That phase alone could exceed the population of Hungry Horse, which reported 346 housing units and 934 people in the 2000 Census.

The project would be served by Hungry Horse's public water system. Developers Stephan Byrd and Dennis Konopatzke also have proposed building a public sewage-treatment plant - something the community currently doesn't have - either on their own property or on the adjacent Canyon Elementary School property.

The plant would then be turned over to the Hungry Horse district to operate and maintain. It could be expanded to serve other homes and businesses in the area, though that expense would be borne by the district and its future customers, rather than by the subdivision developers.

The developers held two public meetings with Hungry Horse residents earlier this year, outlining their plans for the property. That may have addressed the community's concerns, as only two letters of opposition were submitted to the Planning Office.

The Flathead County Planning Office, on the other hand, is recommending denial of the South Fork Addition, citing potential impacts on schools and the lack of adequate public services.

"This proposal would create a significant number of residential units at an urban density without the supporting services required for the proposed level of use," the staff report said. "Effects on local services and on public health and safety cannot be adequately mitigated. We cannot support a project of this density in an unzoned area without greater details at an early stage in the process."

Some of the specific issues highlighted in the staff report include schools and traffic.

Based on estimates of the number of school-age children that a subdivision of this size could attract, the staff report indicated that South Fork Addition would exceed the available capacity for both Canyon Elementary and the Columbia Falls High School.

During one of the community meetings, Byrd estimated that 30 to 50 percent of the residential units in the subdivision would be purchased or rented by local residents. The remainder would go to seasonal residents, who would not be expected to have an impact on the school system.

"We've taken a hard look at what the valley needs, what Hungry Horse needs and what we could do from an ecological standpoint," he said at the time. "We want to offer some alternative [housing] choices to what's being offered in the Flathead right now."

School District 6 Superintendent Mike Nicosia, however, worried that the subdivision would produce a rapid influx of students. In a letter to the planning staff, he said that "the apartments and other multi-family units in the district are not seasonally occupied."

Traffic safety is another issue about which the developers and planning staff have a difference of opinion.

Given its proximity to a four-lane federal highway, Byrd previously suggested that a better location for high-density development would be difficult to find. He also suggested that the bridge over the South Fork of the Flathead and the section of U.S. 2 through Bad Rock Canyon were both slated for improvement "around 2010 or 2011."

The Montana Department of Transportation later clarified that neither project is likely to get built in the foreseeable future. In fact, a four-lane design for the South Fork bridge was recently scrapped in favor of a two-lane design, because of a lack of money.

The planning staff indicated that, at full build-out, South Fork Addition could generate an additional 9,000 vehicle trips per day, with much of that traffic filtering through Bad Rock Canyon and Columbia Falls.

In an emergency, Sheriff Jim Dupont said it could take as long as 20 minutes to respond to this area, while routine issues could take hours.

Nevertheless, Dupont had a favorable impression of the subdivision.

"Hungry Horse has a very high number of requests for service from the Sheriff's Office," he said in a letter to the developers. "We believe your project will lower the number of calls in the future, because of the well-planned, moderate price and general upgrade of the neighborhood. The Sheriff's Office approves of this proposal and feels it will greatly improve the quality of life in the community."

South Fork Addition is the only item on the Planning Board agenda Wednesday. This will be the last meeting for longtime board member Jeff Larsen, who has served on the board for seven years.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of the Earl Bennett Building, 1035 First Ave. W., in Kalispell.